Featured

Trump: Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader, but I said no thanks

Trump’s “Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader” joke at an NRCC fundraiser uses a real, deadly leadership crisis in Iran to normalize assassination-as-policy and blur what’s confirmed about the war and succession.

Mar 26, 2026

Featured

‘Men need to be perp-walked’ after Epstein files release, Massie tells BBC

A GOP lawmaker says the Epstein document releases are still falling short—because redactions and withheld material may be blocking accountability and survivor-centered justice.

Mar 25, 2026

Buried.News

The stories buried under the noise

Primary focus

Trump fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

A Cabinet secretary was forced out amid contracting and oversight scrutiny, signaling that executive control—not transparent accountability—can dictate leadership of the agency driving mass detention and deportation.

Mar 5, 2026

Featured

The Trump gold coin is not normal : Consider This from NPR

A federal design panel OK’d a Trump portrait for a commemorative gold coin, but the key question is whether Treasury can legally bypass long-standing limits meant to keep living politicians off U.S. money.

Mar 23, 2026

Featured

White House Confronted Over Huge Bets Made Minutes Before Trump’s Big War Move

A $580 million burst of oil-futures selling minutes before Trump’s Iran “talks” post raises a basic public-interest question: did anyone trade on advance knowledge of a market-moving national security decision?

Mar 24, 2026

Norms Impact

White House Mocked for Telling Commentator Accused of Being Paid By Russia They ‘Welcome Unbiased Journalists’: ‘While Banning AP?’

Granting White House press access to a favored commentator while restricting established outlets normalizes political control over who gets to question power in public.

Executive

Apr 22, 2025

Sources

https://www.latintimes.com/white-house-mocked-telling-commentator-accused-being-paid-russia-they-welcome-unbiased-581446

Summary

The White House press briefing room added political commentator Tim Pool, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised him as an “unbiased journalist.” The administration framed his presence as part of a shift toward expanding access and “welcoming all viewpoints,” even as users cited restrictions on mainstream outlets like the AP. The practical result is an information environment where access and legitimacy can be granted to favored figures while established press access is constrained.

Reality Check

Weaponizing press access to reward friendly voices and sideline disfavored outlets hardens a precedent where the government can shape what the public is allowed to hear, weakening our rights in practice. The conduct described is not clearly criminal on this record—there is no stated quid pro quo or fraud—but it strikes at core governance norms of viewpoint neutrality and institutional independence in press relations. When officials anoint “unbiased journalists” from the podium while restricting mainstream access, it functions as state legitimization and invites future retaliation against scrutiny. The danger is structural: once access becomes discretionary loyalty currency, accountability collapses into managed spectacle.

Media

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Detail

Political commentator Tim Pool attended his first White House press briefing on Tuesday, appearing in a black beanie, T-shirt, and hoodie. During the briefing, Pool asked Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to comment on plans to expand press room access and on what he called “unprofessional behavior” by other news organizations that he said pushed “false narratives.”

Leavitt responded that the White House “welcome[s] all viewpoints into this room,” and thanked Pool for the question. She added that the administration “welcome[s] unbiased journalists who really care about the truth and the facts and the accuracy,” citing Pool as an example of the broader approach to media “diversity” in the briefing room.

Online reactions highlighted criticism of Pool’s inclusion, including comments referencing accusations that his content was funded by Russian state media and posts pointing to the White House decision to restrict access for several mainstream outlets, including the AP.

Norms Impact

‘It’s Those Lips’: Trump, 79, Goes Gaga for Karoline Leavitt, 27

A president publicly reducing his press secretary to her lips collapses the line between public service and personal entitlement, degrading the basic workplace norm that government power isn’t sexual leverage.

Executive

Aug 2, 2025

Sources

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-goes-gaga-for-press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-its-those-lips/

Summary

President Donald Trump, 79, publicly sexualized and praised White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, describing her lips and their movement during a televised interview. The presidency was used to frame personal, appearance-based commentary about a subordinate as an endorsement of official performance. The result is a workplace and public-information apparatus where power and proximity can be signaled through personal objectification rather than institutional accountability.

Reality Check

Abusing the public megaphone to sexualize a subordinate corrodes the integrity of the White House workplace and signals that access and advancement can be filtered through personal objectification, not merit or accountability. This conduct is unlikely to be criminal on these facts alone, but it squarely violates core governance norms against abuse of office and the use of official power to create coercive, retaliatory workplace dynamics. When the nation’s chief executive normalizes that behavior in public, it weakens every worker’s expectation of a professional, non-coercive government and invites a culture where dissent can be punished through humiliation rather than lawful supervision.

Detail

During a 20-minute interview with Newsmax host Rob Finnerty on Friday night, President Donald Trump commented on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s appearance while discussing her performance in the role. Trump said: “It’s that face. It’s that brain. It’s those lips, the way they move. They move like she’s a machine gun.”

In the same exchange, Trump said Leavitt has “become a star,” and added, “I don’t think anybody has ever had a better press secretary that Karoline.” Leavitt began working for Trump in January 2024 as his national press secretary during his election campaign and was later appointed to the White House position, becoming the youngest press secretary in White House history.

The interview also included Trump’s remarks on the Sydney Sweeney–American Eagle jeans ad controversy and criticism of a Bud Light advertisement featuring actor and trans woman Dylan Mulvaney. The White House was contacted for comment.